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 Conservation
of water environment
 Protection
of water guality (criteria: Environmental Quality Standard)
(1) Conservation of water quality in public waters
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Regulations on effluent from factories
and business establishments, and measures on
household effluent, etc. (Water Pollution Control Law) |
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Special measures for lakes and reservoirs,
enclosed sea areas, the Seto Inland Sea, and drinking water supply
catchments |
(2) Conservation of groundwater
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Regulations on infiltration of pollutants
from factories and business establishments into groundwater |
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Orders to take measures to purify polluted
groundwater |
Assurance of a sound water cycle
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Projects to recover and regenerate wells and springs |
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Formulation of guidelines on standards
to diagnose, evaluate and recover water cycle |
Conservation of marine environment
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Establishment of standards to regulate
discharges of pollutants from ships and dumping of wastes into the
sea (Law Relating to the Prevention of Marine Pollution and Maritime
Disaster) |
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Complying with international conventions
relating to the marine environment, such as the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea |
Measures on waste disposal and recycling
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Establishment of standards on waste
disposal and final landfill sites (Waste Management and Public Cleansing
Law) |
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Compulsory advance notification to importing
parties and consent by them of export of specified hazardous wastes
(Law for the Control of Export, Import and Others of Specified Hazardous
Wastes and Other Wastes (Basel Law) ) |
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Study of a comprehensive system to promote
desirable cycle of materials through an appropriate combination of
waste disposal and recycing. |
Conservation of soil environment (criteria: Soil Environmental Quality Standard)
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Agricultural land: Designation of polluted
areas, planning of countermeasures (Agricultural Land soil Pollution
prevention Law)) |
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Urban area: Guidance based on guidelines for survey
and countermeasures |
Conservation of the ground environment
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Regulations on extracting groundwater
(Industrial Water Law, Law Concerning the Regulation of Pumping-up
of Underground Water for Use in Buildings) |
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Real time monitoring of groundwater
levels, etc., distribution of information on the state of ground subsidence,
and other reports |
Prevention of environmental pollution from agricultural chemicals
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Establishing standards for registration
of agricultural chemicals, etc. (Agricultural Chemicats Regulation
Law) |
 Selected
100 Exquisite and Well-conserved Waters
To encourage people
through out the country to rediscover, utilize, and help conserve local
sources of clean water, as has been done since ancient times in local communities,
in March 1985 the Environment Agency announced a listing of the Selected
IOO Exquisite and Well-conserved Waters, after assessing the water from
springs and rivers all over the country.
Taking advantage of
the listing, the cities, towns and villages where these selected waters
are found have come together to establish the All Japan Water Environment
Conservation Municipalities Liaison Council to promote and raise awareness
of water quality conservation. The council organizes an annual All Japan
Water Environment Conservation Muni-cipalities Symposium. The 1999 symposium
is to be held in Nakamura City, Kochi Prefecture.
 Selected
55 Beaches
In March 1998, the
Environment Agency published a list of the "Selected 55 Beaches"
scattering from Hokhaido in the nonh to Okinawa in the south, evaluated
in terms of comfort, water quality and other features. The list has since
been widely publicized.
One of the agency's
motives in creating the list was to encourage more people to go to the named
beaches in order to spark greater interest and involvement in water environment
conservation. Another objective was to motivate local governments to work
harder to improve their beaches so that they can makc the list in the next
selection of Japan's "Selected 55 Bcaches "
Establishing
an Environment-ally-sound Material Cycle
The practice of simply
disposing of the waste is no longer adequate for dealing with our present
waste problems. What is really needed is to construct a new society based
on the desirable material cycle which can reduce the load on the environment
at all stages of product life, from mining and harvesting of raw materials
through to disposal. |
